November 09, 2006

The Legacy of Rumsfeld

I feel like I’m one of the few Americans left who will be sad to see Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld go. But no matter what you think of the war in Iraq, you can’t deny the importance of Secretary Rumsfeld’s service to this country.

From the morning of September 11th, when he bravely rushed to help pull burning victims from the Pentagon, to the successful effort to bring freedom to Afghanistan, Secretary Rumsfeld has helped this country through some pretty difficult times. When he stood by President Bush this week to say goodbye, he also stood by his decisions in the war in Iraq. The calls for Rumsfeld to step down have been getting louder, and faced with the Democratic victories in the House and Senate this week, President Bush was clearly faced with a difficult decision.

In typical Rumsfeld style, he seems to be taking it all in stride, quoting Winston Churchill who once said: “I have benefited greatly from criticism, and at no time have I suffered a lack thereof.

This weekend I’ll be remembering the Rumsfeld era on the radio by letting you listen to the interview I conducted with him at the Pentagon back in the summer.

99.9% of the people never heard about it because it was delivered on September 10, 2001 ... but the bureaucracy heard and they didn't forget.

If you read "The Generals' War" by Gordon and Trainor, the contempt for Rumsfeld (and Bush and Cheney) is obvious. The Pentagon bureaucracy wanted to keep their slow ways of doing things, their 1000 person staffs, their procedures.

In Afghanistan, the victory over the Taliban was won by a very small group of Special Forces and CIA operations types, on horseback with laptops. The first thing the 1000 person staffed Army bureaucracy did was make those Special Forces guys get "white sidewalls" haircuts. Check out Berntsen's book, "Jawbreaker".

Once upon a time, there was a thing called "Quick Response Contracts". Vendors had 30 days to DELIVER mission critical hardware and software. That's gone and now it takes months and years to get essential stuff. That's the reason our guys couldn't get vehicles that were IED-resistant in a timely way, or devices that could jam IED detonators. Check out the WSJ, Tuesday, May 24, 2005, page A4 "Pentagon Aims to Keep 'Jammers' Current"... by Greg Jaffe. Subtitle: "Procurement Process Delays New Defenses Against Insurgents' Remote-Detonated Devices".

Hi, Monica! I join you in your sadness at Donald Rumsfeld's departure. He is an honorable man who took on some extremely difficult tasks for this administration, and I believe he did his utmost to accomplish them.

Unfortunately, he had become a political lightning rod, and perhaps there was no advantage at this point for him to stay on. I respect him greatly, and wish him well.

Yesterday (Sat., 11/11) on your radio show (96.9 Boston), you stated that neither the democrats nor the administration knows what to do about Irag. I maintain that some do know (particularly the republicans but are afraid to say it.

First of all Irag isn't the real problem- it is one war front against Radical Islam. Radical Islam (or I could be more blout and just say "Islam" period) is the problem. This is a war that not everyone recognizes at this point; but is a war and the longer we wait to confront it the worst it will be.

The real solution fro Irag (and all if radical Islam) is a two step process.

!. The U.S. needs to root out all the radical muslims from within the U.S. This in itself is a major effort and requires a significant increase in personnel (military, FBI etc). However, at some point it has to be done. The question is when???

2. The U.S. needs to re-instate the draft and build up a multimillion man force. Probably well the neighborhood of 10 to 30 million. It also needs to dramaticaaly build up its weaponry. We then will have to sewwp through the entire middle east and again root out radical islam (and maybe even Islam itself). We would need to take over the oil just to help pay for the cost of the big exercise.

The reason it is the entire middle east is that they are harboring the radicals and thus must be made accountable. No other country is capable of this action and wesern civilization as we know it is at stake. We cannot let them infiltrate the U.S. as they have done in Europe.

Now the big question is: what is thr threshold for triggering this response to Radical Islam. That I don't know. I just know that somewhere down the line thisa will happen. All the politicians are afraid to even mention such a senario as the media would be all over then and their political careers would probably be over.

I would like to hear more serious discussion on this process as it needs to be addressed.

I am very sorry about Donald Rumsfeld. He is a man of honor and patriotism. He is the rare blend of character and honesty. Love of country and loyalty mean more to him than anything else. We have lost an asset in so many ways.

The Constitution of the USA is a mess! Why? Because....the President is supposed to be the commander in chief of the armed forces...and what training does the constitution provide for the idiot in the White House to lead the best trained army in the world into a country we have no business being in and a war that has no end in sight and even now is turning into a civil war...no training at all...just that he be elected by a bunch of blood thirsty Americans calling themselves Christians. Did not JESUS tell John and his brother when they wanted fire to come down from heaven and destroy a samaritan village the following words..."YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT SPIRIT YOU BELONG TO"....Mr.Bush...give it up...you screwed up the whole thing...Powell was right...if you break it you fix it...GOD HELP US ALL...EVERYONE!

Let us also never forget that as head of Searle Phamaceuticals, he was responsible for fast tracking Aspartame, a known deadly neurotoxin and brain poison, thru FDA approval. This was over the objection of many in the medical community who knew of the deadly effects of Aspartame.

Rumsfeld is another pawn in the hands of his elite handlers, and as such should be reviled and thrown into the garbage dump of history.